Painting Reflections
by DunmerFromAldRuhn
Summary: Naruto is given a second chance by Nagato. Sent back to the past he must take the future in his hands and work on not making it any worse. Figuring out what's wrong with that past and why he is Tsunade's son is just the beginning. Timetravel. AU.
1. Prologue: Blast To The Past!

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Prologue: Blast To The Past!

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Life is a curious thing. You cannot tell what it has prepared for you most of the time. And even when you can, it turns out the most unexpected of w**a**ys. Just like now…

Uzumaki Naruto, the jinchuuriki of Kyuubi, the single son of the Yellow Flash himself was standing in front of the man responsible for destruction of Konoha. The man didn't even look like he could as much as move on his own, and yet the truth was there, behind the wall of the paper tree the three ninja were inside of.

The boy had expected a violent confrontation, but curiously after a heated speech on his part the man, his name was Nagato, didn't seem very threatening. He gave the blond teen a small chuckle and spoke. "You're an odd kid… You remind me of myself when I was younger…"

Naruto looked at the supposed leader of Akatsuki in wonder and surprise. He didn't expect him to act so… so carefree. It made no sense considering what he did minutes ago… then again maybe his speech affected the guy more than the blonde had expected.

A woman near Pein muttered something that Naruto was unable to hear clearly. Nagato continued his speech, getting his hands out of the manipulators, or a controlling device, or whatever those things were. "I couldn't believe in what Jiraiya believed in. Or… in the man himself… But… you chose a different path. In you, I can see a different future…"

Naruto didn't understand what he wanted to do until he saw the man put his hands in a position for a hand seal. "I… will believe in you… Uzumaki Naruto."

The woman tried to stop him shouting something, but he didn't stop. Several seconds later pain shot through Naruto's body. His eyes couldn't see anything anymore because of it. He was convulsing falling to the ground in the process.

The teen was feeling very weak. The woman kept yelling something that is until he saw the paper tree around them disappear. His eyelids felt heavy. He couldn't breathe. It felt like someone put a huge boulder on his chest to keep him from moving and breathing.

His eyes finally closed and Naruto felt warm darkness enveloping him. He couldn't tell what was happening but whatever it was, it made him feel weightless. After some time his eyes opened to see himself surrounded by white.

The teen looked around and saw another person standing in the distance. The person floated closer to him and stopped when he was arm's length away from Naruto. It was guy, higher than Naruto, his hair was shorter than Naruto's and color seemed to be like that of Tsunade, his narrow eyes were of very dark green color. The guy's face looked very much like portraits of Tobirama Senju in his youth. The difference was of course hair and eye colors as well as the absence of those marks that Nidaime had.

He spoke in a calm voice. "Come. There are things to be done. No use in standing here like that."

Strangely his voice was like the one Naruto heard coming from his own mouth. The guy extended his hand and waited until Naruto took it. After that the light disappeared again and Naruto felt himself losing his consciousness.

…And regaining it moments later hearing ear piercing wail of a child. "WAAAAAAAAA!"

_Gods… someone please stop it…_ Naruto's head was feeling like he had a huge hangover, not like he ever had a hangover, but he imagined it would be this that he would've felt. Medical apparatus were beeping, people talking; all indicated that he was in a hospital. When he started to feel his body, he immediately noticed that it was he who was crying.

He thought about what happened. Moments ago he was standing near younger blond version of Nidaime and now he was apparently a newborn.

He blinked in surprise when someone took him in his hands. It was a man with white hair and dark green eyes, the same as that guy had. The man smiled at him fondly. Naruto wondered what that smile meant.

"Ow, he stopped crying the moment you took him." The former teen, now newborn heard a female voice suspiciously similar to Tsunade's.

The man chuckled and replied. "It seems he likes his daddy better." The man turned him to face the woman who spoke earlier. "A-chan, take a look at your mommy"

The boy would've blinked when his suspicions were confirmed, if not for the fact that he couldn't control much of his body functions. There on a hospital bed laid Tsunade. The woman was slightly flustered and sweat dripped down her forehead. She also looked a bit older than her usual genjutsu version.

_Indeed there are things to be done…_ Naruto thought to himself, remembering the guy's words. It seems he was that guy now. It didn't take the genius to figure out that combining Tsunade and this man, whoever he was, got him the blond, green eyed version of Nidaime.

"Don't swing my Arashi-kun like that, Dan!" The blonde woman mock-yelled at the man who was holding the boy.

_Wasn't Dan Tsunade's lover? _Now that was a good question. The answer to which would be yes. Probably. Not much of a revelation, but it was making things weirder and weirder.

The blond decided to not dwell on it too much for now. Now he hadn't anything better to do than wait and see how things played out.

A ninja run into the room. He was panting a bit and after regaining his breath spoke hastily. "Tsunade-san, Dan-san, Mito-sama asks for your final decision. You have to hurry, not much time is left."

Dan looked at Tsunade with questioning gaze and when she nodded solemnly spoke. "We agree."

"Good, follow me then. Mito-sama is waiting." The man rushed out of the room and Dan left with him while still holding the blond.

Naruto wondered what it might be that needed the agreement of both Tsunade and Dan. Another question was - who was that Mito woman? The way that ninja spoke of her the boy figured she was somehow important. The strange thing was that Naruto prided himself on knowing about anyone significant enough to leave his or her page in the history of Konoha. That meant that woman was either someone like Danzo or someone like this Dan i.e. died in his universe before becoming important enough. He would have his answer soon enough, though.

After some time they arrived to a large clearing outside of Konoha. Ten or more ANBU were stationed on the perimeter of the clearing. In the center stood old-man Sarutobi, Jiraiya, Orochimaru and some wrinkly old woman who strangely had bright red hair.

It was then that he had heard what they were speaking about.

"…the resealing wasn't supposed to happen for another two months! Mito-sama, please tell us what is wrong with the Kyuubi."

There were another jinchuuriki of Kyuubi? He was honestly surprised, he had never encountered any information that may have suggested that Kyuubi was sealed in someone before being sealed in him. It was like the beast disappeared after the battle of the Valley of the End.

Then it hit him. Of course it would disappear if it was sealed in someone. Only Hokage and small group of trusted ninja must have known about it. But why did everyone knew about him then? Was it that hard to make people believe that the fox was killed?

Then again, most people had believed that the fox was killed by Shodai during his battle against Madara, so when the fox appeared again they must have thought it was immortal. Well, it was immortal, but that was off topic.

"Just three hours ago, the beast began struggling to destroy the seal. That was when I called for you, Saru. The possibility of it breaking out is rising with each passing minute."

"But why would it act that way?"

"It must have felt the seal weakening. I don't know, through all of my life I had talked with it only once and I don't know the way its mind works."

"Fair enough."

_Well, I guess I'm stuck with the bastard again, so much for hoping it wouldn't go the way it did the last time I was born… _the boy mused to himself. Seriously though, something was terribly wrong here, he had thought that he was the first and the only jinchuuriki of Kyuubi. But here she stood, supposedly the first host of the fox. It meant that he either happened to move not only across the time but across the dimensions too, or the thing that his brain suggested earlier.

"Although I must warn you, I'm not as good at sealing as when I was young. Be prepared for anything." The old redhead warned everyone gathered around her and then turned to Dan. "Katou-kun, give child to me please."

The old woman carried newly born Arashi to what seemed to be a small altar in the center of the clearing. She placed him on it and sat in meditative position. After a few seconds the woman started making hand seals. There were quite a lot of them, halfway through she started looking a bit strained. Her hand movements started slowing down and soon a large seal array appeared on the ground.

After another few moments the woman doubled over seemingly in pain. A half transparent image of Kyuubi appeared behind the redheaded woman. The fox was bound in chakra chains coming from Mito's back. The tailed beast was struggling to free itself, but was unsuccessful.

After a minute or so Kyuubi's appearance began turning less and less ethereal. Soon instead of half-transparent phantom there was standing the strongest of the tailed beasts in flesh, or chakra if you were to go into the details. The chakra chains were barely able to hold it now.

With one strong yank half of the chains were torn. The beast's paw lunged for the boy on the altar. Every shinobi present rushed to protect the young child. Only Jiraiya was close enough to get there in time. The fox's claw pierced his abdomen, but didn't reach the blond boy.

Naruto watched horrified as Jiraiya coughed up blood while still smiling weakly. As if dying or his sake once was not enough. He just had to go and do that again. It wasn't as if Naruto blamed him. He would've done the same in that situation.

He wanted to scream for being so helpless, but he couldn't. His state of self-loathing was stopped when the claw protruding from the white haired Sannin's belly started becoming ethereal again.

The fox was starting to disappear rapidly, much faster than it appeared. Soon the beast was gone and the seals on the ground began crawling to the child and forming a smaller seal. Naruto recognized the process, the seal was compressing itself. He hadn't seen it very often, but most of the complex seals were like that.

The seal itself appeared to be very much different from his Shiki Fuujin. It still was on his belly, though, just much bigger. Naruto couldn't quite move his head to see it whole, but what he could see looked much more complex than Shiki Fuujin.

Still, Jiraiya was dying right in front of him. And the man still tried to appear funny and entertain the newborn kid. He was making funny faces even though the blood was flowing from his mouth. Finally, the white haired man lowered himself to his knees feeling his strength fading away. The boy watched as light gradually faded from the Toad Sennin's eyes.

Jiraiya didn't stop smiling, even in such situation. Naruto didn't know what do to, nor what to think. He had never faced such a situation. Feeling so helpless was daunting. He couldn't do anything, he could only think. And being left alone with his thoughts was something the blond dreaded the most. None of them led him to happy things after all.

These thoughts, the death of Toad Sennin Jiraiya and resealing of Kyuubi no Yoko marked the beginning of the life of Senju Arashi.

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**AN: **Here it is, the author notes. I hate the prologue, it's too dry and doesn't fully convey the volume of Naruto's emotional distress, but I'm not going to rewrite it any further. Why? Because.

Pairings are Arashi x Konan and Naruto x Karin. The romance thing will most likely happen pretty late in the story. This is the reason for friendship in genres, there is also going to be a lot of focus on Ame orphans relationship with each other and also Arashi - Anko relationship.

The name of the fic refers to what Arashi/Naruto is essentially doing i.e. creating a false mirror image of what he sees the future of Konoha and ninja world like.

**Warnings:** may contain incest, mentions of rape, violence, incessant rumblings of deranged author, powerlevels, OOC characters, longass update times, homosexuality and heterosexuality played for laughs, stupid people doing stupid things for stupid reasons and much more shit that I am willing to list here.


	2. Chapter 1: Anew

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Volume 1: Awakening the Chaos

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Chapter 1: Anew

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The boy stared intently at the infant in the crib. The child had brown hair and eyes. It was not the first time Arashi stared at his baby brother, but again and again his thoughts had turned to how he was named Konohamaru.

None of it made sense. If he was to think logically about it, then he shouldn't have happened too. Dan died only after two months of dating Tsunade as far as he knew. But here he was, a child of Senju Tsunade and Katou Dan. It could've meant only one thing, someone traveled further in time than him and changed the timeline. It could have been anyone for all he knew. Besides, he didn't know what limits the technique had.

One thing he knew for sure, Rinnegan was truly a magnificent bloodline. Nothing could be compared to the destruction it wrought on Konoha all that time ago. Arashi doubted that even Kyuubi was capable of such destructive power. But even if Kyuubi was capable of such destruction, he still couldn't send someone back in time.

The blonde was a stranger to concept of time traveling, he also wasn't all that smart, but even he could understand that nothing would've changed without a cause. Unless of course not only did he travel in time but also between dimensions. That was something to be wary of. If it was an alternate dimension then some people might not exist or behave in a very different way than he would've expected them to.

Nonetheless, he couldn't let himself slack. Four years of living without any concern was too much. He needed to act. And yet he couldn't, he was four years old for fuck's sake! His clones or actually none of the clone techniques had a range large enough to be useful in that kind of situation. And he didn't really have that much chakra at the age of four, it wasn't as if he didn't count Kyuubi's chakra, but he couldn't use it right now as well.

He couldn't do things he was used to doing when he was Naruto. He couldn't train like he used to, he couldn't behave like he did, he couldn't do much of anything really. The activities of children of such young age were annoyingly simple: sleep, eat, play, eat, sleep, play, eat. Repeat as much as you need. Nothing would change.

There was only one way out of it: child prodigy. Uchiha Itachi was seven when he completed academy, ten when he became chuunin, thirteen when he became ANBU. Arashi was sure that should he put his mind to it he could beat Uchiha's record. He knew he could work hard, and he had knowledge of a few quite advanced techniques.

"Mom, you know, he looks nothing like you or dad." The blonde drawled with a quiet voice.

Tsunade looked at her older son, once again amazed at how coherent his speech was. He spoke without the mistakes that kids usually made while pronouncing words. Even his vocabulary was larger than that of a child six years his senior. Although, she supposed it was to be expected with the amount of history books the kid read.

And yes, reading apparently wasn't something one would see four years old child doing. At first she and Dan feared it was because of Kyuubi, but Mito had reassured them that there was nothing wrong with the seal and the fox wasn't influencing the child in the slightest.

And thus they agreed that Arashi was simply a natural genius. It was even scary how smart the kid was sometimes. Almost like he knew things he wasn't supposed to know.

"He looks like my grandfather, Senju Hashirama, Shodai Hokage."

The kid looked up and stared her in the eye. "Is he?"

"Yes. And you look like brother of my grandfather, Tobirama." She finished and looked at how the boy let Konohamaru play with his fingers.

"Were they strong?"

"Yes. Hashirama was feared for his power and Tobirama was just feared."

"What do you mean? About Tobirama."

"Many of the jutsu he had invented were rather vile in nature."

As far as the boy knew it was the truth. Wherever the man fought using his water element the place was left looking like a wasteland. Grass became yellow, the ground cracked from the absence of water, the trees withered. Another of his techniques, Impure World Resurrection, was something none wanted to face. Not only did it summon immortal fighters, but there also was a rather big chance that those fighters would happen to be some of the strongest ninja of the past.

His space-time ninjutsu was another thing altogether. He was inventor of many theories of the space warping, time stopping and similar concepts. Although none of his techniques were finished, even in half complete state they gave him a big edge in battle.

Tsunade herself thought that he was considered weaker one of the brothers simply because Hashirama could control Kyuubi with his Mokuton. But she had never seen any of the brothers in the battle so she couldn't really say.

The boy returned to staring at Konohamaru. Truly, the gods didn't like him. Being sent back to the past, and not even his own past was bad enough. But trying to figure out what was wrong with this universe… dimension… or whatever it was, was ridiculous. He couldn't have wished anything like this on anyone.

But at least he knew who to keep an eye out for. Orochimaru and all members of Akatsuki were to be watched. He could also try to warn other jinchuuriki about the dangers that the organization posed. All of their members had some special techniques or fighting style that made killing them much more difficult and tedious.

He still didn't know what Shikamaru did to that crazed religious freak, but knowing Nara and Shikamaru especially it must have been something ingenious. He wouldn't settle for anything less after Asuma's death at the freak's hands.

Sure as hell the others were even more dangerous than that …yes, warning all jinchuuriki would be in his top priorities. But first he had to learn who the other hosts were. In his time he knew only about three other than him: Gaara, Yagura, the fourth Mizukage, and lastly Killer Bee of the deadly A and B duo.

He had to plan carefully, Nagato wasn't the real leader of Akatsuki. And no matter what he had to stay careful and avoid showing his hand. He had years to prepare, and even more to act. This time everything had to be different. But still, straying too far from the original events might become disastrous.

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Several months later

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"Tsunade, be reasonable! Your kid has immense potential! You couldn't possibly imagine how much you would stunt his growth with your decision." Orochimaru sounded pissed. The reason was denial of his offer for Arashi to become his apprentice at the age of four. The man was this agitated because the blond boy had 'created' an A-rank assassination technique, Rasengan.

"I believe I have said: 'My decision is final'. Guess what? My decision didn't change from the last time." The last time was two days ago when the pale man practically stormed Senju manor.

Arashi was so immersed in the conversation of two Sannin that he didn't notice his father walking up to him until said man crouched and placed his hand on the boy's shoulder. "Idiots, right?" Then he chuckled and continued. "So, what do _you_ think?"

The boy shrugged, looked at arguing Sannin, and returned his gaze to look at Dan. The kid inhaled, exhaled, looked at the ceiling and spoke. "I think I would like to train. I don't want for me and Kon' to be in shadows of founders forever."

Dan stood up smiling all the while and nodded. "Fine, I'll talk to these two."

The boy watched as Dan entered the room and practically fell on a couch with a loud thud in successful attempt to garner the attention of two remaining members of legendary trio. "Kid's been listening to you guys for a long time, let him decide. You began training around this age after all, didn't you honey?"

Tsunade snorted frowning angrily. "I was born during difficult times, and became shinobi when the threat of war was still on horizon."

Orochimaru looked practically murderous; he pointed his hand at Tsunade and spoke with an angry voice. "Tsunade. It is wasted potential right there! You hear me? Wasted! The earlier he begins his training the better it is."

The tension in the room was rising, Arashi began to fear that it may come to full blown battle between the two. And he still remembered how strong both Sannin were supposed to be.

The blond woman got up and leaned over coffee table that separated the space between her and Orochimaru. "And how can this be better? By turning him into a weapon? Go to hell!"

Obviously the pale man was not intimidated by the woman's display and continued his tirade. "Listen to yourself woman! You deny your child his right to become strong, strong enough to protect himself from any threat that may arise. We both know that Kumo had their eyes on Nine-tails for a while now. It's only a matter of time until they do act."

"And what is that to you?! As far as I know, the only thing that you care about is yourself!" As soon as she finished that the blonde turned her back to the Snake Sannin in a gesture of disrespect.

"Tsunade…" He hissed in a dangerously low voice. "Don't try my patience. I will not tolerate insults."

"Ha! As if I care!"

Dan stood up finally becoming both impatient and concerned about two top ninja of Konoha trying to settle their dispute by force. He waved his hands and spoke hurriedly. "Wo wo wo, guys this seriously is becoming dangerous. Tsunade, dear, please let me talk."

"Fine, fine, talk all you want! I'm out of here!" The woman sighed in exasperation and walked out of the room still fuming silently.

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Two years later

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So there he was sitting in a mildly uncomfortable cross-legged position listening to Orochimaru's lections. Since he had never _officially _attended the academy, the Snake Sannin was teaching him basics. And that meant repeating all those boring lectures about chakra, tactics, ninjutsu, weapons, history and many other subjects that he knew well enough but wasn't supposed to reveal knowledge of. While history was more or less interesting to listen to, the rest of the subjects were not so much.

That was really boring, and absolutely wasteful, but the boy supposed that this was the price he had to pay for a chance to make things right. And once again he was left alone with his thoughts. It was maddening, really, he didn't have that much to do.

Sometimes he had urges… urges to drop this act of a child and just tell everyone that he traveled through the time. But if he did the only likely scenario would be him getting labeled as crazy and put under a _tender_ care of medics… And he didn't like both medics and hospitals, excluding Sakura and Tsunade of course.

Speaking of Sakura, he missed her, a lot actually. And then there was Hinata… During all these years her confession still plagued his mind never once leaving it, but not entirely being the focus of his thought all the time. He thought a lot about it, true, but he also thought a lot about Sasuke's betrayal, Jiraiya's death, destruction of Konoha and many other things. Though for once he knew something for certain, if this world's Naruto's relationships turned out like his, then his life was promising to be difficult.

Thinking about Hinata and Sakura brought him to one subject: just why exactly did he like Sakura? And when had that childish crush become sibling affection? He didn't know… maybe it was years back when he brought Tsunade to become Hokage and heal Sasuke, maybe it was when he understood that his promise to Sakura would be hard to complete, maybe it was after Hinata's confession, or maybe it didn't ever change and he just realized what exact kind of affection it was.

He was still confused as to why his mind returned to the things that happened so much time ago. It was probably due to the absence of anything big happening here, so he had to think about something that could entertain him at least for a little while.

Observing the younger versions of people he knew was sometimes fun too. Out of them all Orochimaru was a real mystery. The man wasn't nearly as evil or sociopathic as the boy had imagined before meeting him face to face. He could've been hiding it, the blonde couldn't tell if the man's personality was fake or real.

His skills, though, were as real as it got. The man was powerful, powerful and cunning. The boy couldn't exactly say just how smart and powerful the man was. He retained many skills that Orochimaru had in original reality. And that was what troubled Arashi. He had all the skills that were safe to display to his fellow Konoha ninja, but what about Kinjutsu?

Did he know Edo Tensei or did he not? Did he know how to make a cursed seal? Did he have Kusanagi no Tsurugi? The blond boy couldn't just walk up to him and ask 'hey sensei, do you know Edo Tensei? What about this? What about that?' It would be _very _strange that he knew about those things at all, much less was asking Orochimaru about them. And it would be just more suspicious, if the Snake Sannin happened to know the techniques.

"…Arashi? Arashi!"

"Ah! Yes?" The boy's gaze quickly turned to the pale man.

"Pay attention to what I am saying."

"Yes."

"So, as I was saying there are five general types of elemental chakra with many additional…"

The lecture continued. Orochimaru was going on and on about chakra. Most of the things he kept saying were known to the boy already. But some were interesting to learn about. He never thought about lightning release as a bloodline. It certainly made sense. Theoretically Lightning was much like a combination of wind and fire elements, or perhaps air and fire, making it a bloodline that most of ninja in elemental countries possessed.

Still, it wasn't that big of revelation. The man could have been teaching him something more valuable than this. Like… he didn't know like what, but he knew there were much more useful things Orochimaru could teach him. Basic ninja theory wasn't one of them. Maybe if it was advanced battle tactics and strategy it would've been more interesting, but…

The boy supposed he couldn't do anything about it. He would sit and wait daydreaming through the lessons. But it seems that his prayers were answered as Orochimaru stopped speaking and looked at the boy intently making him snap to attention.

"Mito-sama, has expressed an interest in teaching you fuinjutsu. Your lessons will start tomorrow and continue for as long as she is willing to teach you." The man sounded almost displeased.

"Huh?"

Orochimaru scowled at the blonde's unintelligent reply and spoke with a displeased tone. "Don't 'huh'. It's unsightly. Do you understand what I said?"

"Ummm, yes?"

"Good then, your training for today is finished. Run laps around the training grounds until you're tired."

Arashi nodded and walked away. He didn't bring anything with him to train usually. It wasn't like he needed anything really. Just his body and chakra were enough, at least for now. The boy decided to go eat and then run some laps.

It was a shame that Ichiraku hadn't opened yet. While his ramen need could be sated in other places, none were as good as Teuchi's place. Well, he could think about food later so his mind turned to the subject of Uzumaki Mito.

The Shodai's wife was an almost mythical person to him. The only time he had seen her was when she sealed Kyuubi in him. And even that was not enough to leave any lasting impression. From what he recently learned of Uzumaki, she was one of the best examples of members of the clan.

Her hair stayed bright red even when she was almost a hundred years old. Yes, she was really ancient, fifty years older than Konoha itself. Not many people even knew that Shodai had a wife. Her existence was one of the most guarded village secrets. From what he gathered the new jinchuuriki was supposed to be a secret too. It wasn't to be though, as Kyuubi decided to have a say in the matter and screwed up most of the secrecy by appearing in all of its glory near Konoha.

That was quite regretful; he would've liked his status of jinchuuriki to be not known to so much people. But what was done - was done. He could try all he wanted, but unless he knew the jutsu Nagato used, he had no chance of changing anything.

He stopped in his tracks seeing someone familiar. The purple hair and its style he could mistake, but the love to the fishnets and the unmistakable smirk were something he could attribute only to that crazy woman.

Mitarashi Anko, the proctor of the second stage of that disastrous chuunin exam. He worked with her a couple of times beyond that too, but the impression she made during the exam was definitely the strongest. He wanted to walk away from the trouble that talking to her would eventually become, but stopped seeing what she was reading and apparently smirking because of.

_Senju Aramaki's guide on basic yin-yang chakra manipulation, huh?... Isn't she a little too young for that stuff? _Well, he was just about her age, but she was supposed to be in academy. And they don't teach that stuff until about three years after you enter it.

"What're you looking at?"

"Huh? Sorry, I didn't notice I was staring." He apologized blinking a few times. "You know, aren't you in over your head reading this stuff? They don't teach it in academy at your age."

Her smirk turned playful and cocky and she replied. "Well, I'm not in the academy right now, right?"

"Errrrmmm… yeah. I guess, you're right. But where did you get it?" The boy asked still more than a little curious about her _accelerated _education.

"I asked a teacher. Who are you anyway?"

"Me?" The blonde pointed at himself again blinking. Most people knew who he was, but then again Anko was never _most_. "Arashi."

"As in Senju Arashi? As in student of Orochimaru-sama, Senju Arashi?"

"Yes, what about it?"

At that she practically flew to his side. She enclosed the boy in a hug and rubbed her cheek against his while speaking so rapidly he couldn't really understand her. "YoureOrochimarusamasapprenti ce? Canyouintroducemetohim? Pleasepleasepleaseplease!"

He blinked trying to make sense of all that and then it did click and the blonde found himself trying to separate that personal space invader from his body. When he finally succeeded with the task he held Anko by her shoulders and spoke. "I can try, but he doesn't like to waste his time. If you want to talk, you better have something important to say or really impress him unless you want to be… well, you wouldn't want to know about it anyway."

"I'll impress him. I'm sure of it." She smiled confidently while letting the blonde go.

"Whatever you say…" Arashi commented and added upon seeing the girl give him an evil eye. "What? I didn't say you wouldn't."

"Oh, I didn't tell you my name, right? I'm Anko!" The boy facepalmed. He didn't know if it was how Anko was normally, but he guessed she might have been an airhead to some degree.

He sighed and extended his hand for a handshake. The girl stared at his hand for a few moments before taking it and squeezing tightly. "Senju Arashi." He said giving her a bright smile. "Nice to meet you."

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The next day Arashi found himself in the less populated part of Konoha, the part that had nothing but clan grounds. Senju clan's main grounds were in another place now, but Shodai's wife expressed desire to remain where they initially were. What was left of former Senju compound was now a huge mansion surrounded by a thick forest. It looked like barely anyone went through here.

The boy was accompanied by a chuunin he didn't know who left him when they approached the doors of the mansion. Arashi walked the final six meters by himself in complete silence. The place looked strange, but he supposed it was because of all those weird looking trees, which were probably Shodai's handiwork.

When he knocked on the door a slightly familiar visage of old but still bright haired woman greeted him. She bent down to him to look at the boy's face and smiled.

"Well, well, look who's here. How old are you already?"

"Six, and there's no need to treat me like a child, Mito-obaasama." Arashi was a little more than annoyed at that treatment. He was a kid, yes, but no one was treating him like one, and now that someone did he found out that he didn't exactly like that.

The old woman stood up and motioned him to follow after her into the depths of the house. "Yes, I've heard a lot about you. Although, I must admit your likeness to Tobirama was underrated."

"With all due respect, would you not compare me to _any_ of the brothers?" The kid replied while looking around as they walked through the halls of the mansion.

The place reminded him of Yamato-taichou's houses that he made using Mokuton. The walls had the same texture even if they seemed much much older. Shodaime probably created the place from scratch.

"Haha, it's difficult~ I'll try, but you would try your best to learn from me in exchange. Is that clear?" The old woman looked back and smiled at the boy.

"Of course, Mito-obaasama."

They seemed to have reached their destination as Mito stopped in front of a sliding door and waited for Arashi to catch up to her. When he did, she entered the room and sat beside a small tea table. The boy proceeded to do the same and stared at the old Uzumaki woman after finding the most comfortable position for his legs.

"So, what should we do for start? Hmm? How about I tell you about Kyuubi?" The old woman was still smiling at him and her smile was very… grandmotherly to say the least.

He shook his head in no and explained. "I think I heard you didn't have any sort of contact with it."

Mito looked up in thought as if trying to recollect some things and spoke. "That is true, my boy, but the fact that I saw Hashi battle it personally is also true."

If she saw that battle then that meant she could tell him about Uchiha Madara. The man was the one he found to be the most intriguing person of those early ages of Konoha. Even Hashirama paled in comparison to the Uchiha. Not in strength, or course, but in the impression they both gave off.

Hashirama was made out to be a perfect person. Yet it was true that there was no one perfect, which probably applied to Hashirama as well. Still, somehow Arashi's desire to learn about the man behind that perfect image was overshadowed by his desire to learn just how true things said in textbooks about Madara were.

"If it's like that, I'd like to hear more about Madara then."

"I don't like talking about him, but if you ask…" The old woman's expression stiffened as she began talking.

"Well, he was a difficult person to converse with, I guess." Mito went silent proceeding to prepare tea for herself and her guest. "He always dwelled in the past, in his regrets, mistakes and such. He couldn't let go of his anger and hate and thus was defeated. You know that saying: the fire in heart sends smoke to the head. He was the prime example of it. I guess he was a little naïve too. He believed he was the cornerstone of Uchiha and that is why they discarded him. This clan is twisted, you know. They believe that the clan stands above the individual, which is right to some point of course, but not to the extreme they bring it to."

"What about his abilities?"

"I don't know much, most of the fight I was too far away or hiding from all the destruction. Both Hashi and Madara possessed enormous strength. Each of them could match Kyuubi in its full power. I? Not so much."

The next couple of hours the boy and the old Uzumaki woman were discussing Konoha's founders. Most of what he learned from Mito was helpful. The woman had much insight on abilities of Shodaime and Nidaime, and while her knowledge of Madara's skills was limited, she had enough face to face dealings with him to paint the picture that he remembered all too well. Madara was a lot like Sasuke, Sasuke who was a clan head that is, but that didn't make things too different. Both of them were focused on one single goal, and both of them were being consumed by their own hate.

And everything would have been fine, if only she stopped comparing him to Tobirama. So what if he looked like the younger color swapped version of the man? It was making him mad. Too mad for his own liking. He kept calm to some degree, but when his patience did run out it did so with a bang. He yelled at the old woman to not compare him to any of the founders in the fashion reminiscent of the time he was thirteen years old academy graduate Uzumaki Naruto.

Mito just laughed it off and thus he understood it was going to be a difficult time for him.

-]|[-

Nearly twenty years had passed, but now Konan finally had full ability to act. Akatsuki had finally been created and gained support in Ame. She herself could finally say she was approaching her previous level of strength. But most importantly the war that would in a sense 'untie' her hands was only two years away.

She couldn't really change anything until now. She couldn't risk the events diverging completely and changing the game board. In a way she already did, but none of those changes were great enough to change the rules. Legendary Hatake Sakumo was still alive for one. Still, him being alive didn't matter much if she looked at things from different angle.

With memories of her previous life she could keep Yahiko's life and Nagato's legs. The last time they were way too naïve and trusted Hanzo the Salamander. This time they would be the first ones to strike.

Amegakure had no central leadership. It was a little like Elemental Countries before the foundation of hidden villages in that regard. Large groups of ninja followed someone strong. Hanzo was strongest, and he also was the closest to Daimyo so naturally his group held most of the authority in the country. Akatsuki with its seemingly peaceful ways and growing influence were quickly becoming an eyesore, something he couldn't ignore.

If they struck quickly and resolutely then the opposition would be crushed even before they could register them as a threat. Hanzo's death was required and she had just the tool for his demise.

Shinobi of Konoha were well-bred, prideful, and not as much of tree huggers as Iwa liked to think of them. Shimura Danzo was not your typical Konoha shinobi, though. He would have fit in Kiri much better than he did in Konoha. Smart and perceptive, though most importantly ruthless and charismatic, the man was much like their leaders of old.

Shimura Danzo also had a dream. A seemingly childish dream of becoming Hokage. The last time they paid dearly because of that dream of his. Now she was going to turn the tables on Hanzo. And once they were done with Hanzo she would be finally able to steer Akatsuki into the direction that _that _Nagato would've wanted.

Near the border of Rain and Fire, on the top of a mountain stood an ancient temple. The temple stood ruined for a long time. If she had to guess it was something along the lines of sixty or seventy years. Most of buildings had long since fallen, brought down the weight of age and the lack of care. The courtyard was overgrown with trees and bushes just like the most of ruined buildings.

Flying high over the top of mountain, Konan spotted Danzo. He sat on the floor of what was left of the main temple. His legs folded beneath him the man was meditating while facing the charred remains of a statue of goddess that was worshipped there when place was filled with monks.

It was ironic, they would be discussing the terms of their agreement in the remains of the temple of Benten, lady of words, speech, eloquence, water and anything else that flowed. It was even more ironic, if one knew that it was the massacre of monks of this exact temple ordered by Hi no Kuni daimyo that led to civil war for independency of country now known as Ame no Kuni.

Making a few more circles over the temple ruins to confirm that there was no one lying in ambush, Konan began her descent towards the Konoha nin. With wind as strong as that it was a bit hard to maintain her course as finely as she wanted, but she had more than enough experience. Sandstorms of Kaze no Kuni, mists of Mizu no Kuni, narrow canyons and lightning storms of Kaminari no Kuni. She had enough experience flying in harsh conditions, so whether it was hard or not, it mattered very little to Konan.

With mighty flaps of her wings she approached the spot where she was going to land. The remaining lower portion of Benten's statue was the perfect place for all it symbolized and implied. She wanted to show where she saw herself in their discussion and what better way was there to go about it, if not do something flashy like that.

She landed softly and let her wings remain spread casting a huge shadow over Danzo's form. The man cracked his single visible eye open and peered at her almost tiredly, though his expression remained severe and hard.

"I see you upheld our previous agreement." She said about the fact that he was alone. The seat of Hokage must have meant a lot for him.

The scarred man frowned before speaking his displeasure. "You made me wait."

-]|[-

**AN: **And that's it for now. I struggled a lot with Konan scene, but it came out well enough for me to be satisfied and stop with that variant. Mito scene too, since I had to show that Arashi was taught by her to some degree, but she didn't have a big enough role in the fic for the scene to be all that interesting to write.

Well, overall it was an introductory chapter. Showed some of Arashi's background as well as introduced Orochimaru, Anko and Konan, all - part of the main cast for the future twenty something chapters revolving around the Third Shinobi War and its aftermath. They also are major characters throughout the whole story.

Happy holidays to you guys, Christmas is four days away, but it's the last chapter this year I'm sure. So, yeah, think of this as a christmas present if you want, or don't, I don't care. I write it to stroke my ego, don't I? Well, anyway see you with next chapter next year and let's hope 2013 is not as much of piece of shit of a year as 2012.


	3. Chapter 2: Rising The Banner

-]|[-

Chapter 2: Rising The Banner

-]|[-

Months went by, became a year, and this year slowly but surely was becoming two years, since Anko joined him in training under Orochimaru. Anko was showing just why the man chose her among countless other kids her age. She was a fast learner, able to grasp almost everything from the first try, able to understand the workings behind the most complex of ninjutsu.

It was no wonder she ended up impressing Orochimaru. And apparently it was him disguised as academy teacher who gave her that book on ninjutsu. When Arashi asked the man why he did that the answer was not something he expected.

_It is easy to teach people from big clans. I've taught your uncle, I've taught and still am teaching you. But I know that teaching can be hard. That's why I want to teach a nobody, I want to write my own book rather than finish one someone started before me._

_I guess it's something Jiraiya would say… but I find the analogy quite good, do you understand what I wanted to tell you? Yet, you see Anko-chan has talent, just like you, but not as big as yours. I want to see how far she could go with my guidance. I want to see her and by extension myself succeed in this experiment._

_You - I taught, because it would've been a shame to let your talent go to waste. Teaching Anko is my selfish desire to show myself just what I am able of making out of her._

She was a natural genius he guessed, which made him wonder why Anko from his original life was only a Tokebutsu Jounin. With the pace she was learning right now, she could become Jounin by the time she was fourteen or even earlier.

Too bad that his genius was the years of experience he had stored in his brain. If that was to be taken from him he would have been just like any other kid. He would have been playing in playground with his friends and such things.

But it wasn't too bad. True, Anko made him feel inferior, but at the same time she made him strive harder to prove to himself that he could be just as good at learning. If not by talent, than just by the sheer hard work. Yet the worst of all was that people thought that it was the exact opposite. It was discouraging if anything.

"Yo! You two look like someone's killed your puppy."

Arashi looked up to find his uncle Senju Nawaki smiling at him and Anko with a wide blindingly white smile. The boy smiled back at the man. His uncle was much like that 'Naruto' side of him that was still very much alive even after eight years of being Arashi and so they got along rather well.

"Sensei's left on some sort of mission and Anko's been sulking since then." The blonde said casting a look at Anko who was doing pretty much just that.

"Is that so?" Nawaki pulled a scroll out of his jounin vest and tossed it to the girl. "Well then, here's something to cheer you up!"

The purple haired girl caught a scroll without any problem and unfurled it hastily, eager to see its contents. "A mission?" She asked looking up at the older man then turning to look at Arashi. "Why am I going alone?"

"It's just a C-rank in a village. You don't need a full team for that." The man answered, then scratching his chin added gesturing at Arashi. "…and I need to borrow him for a bit."

Anko shrugged got up and took off waving her hand at both of them. Arashi's gaze followed Anko for a couple of moments before snapping back to his uncle and looking at him questionably.

"Follow me to aviary, I have some things to do there. We'll talk along the way."

And so they went through the streets of Konoha not taking to the rooftops and just making their way there on feet. When they were in less crowded part of the village the older man began talking. "Say Arashi, do you love this village?"

The boy was reluctant to answer having heard some sort of apprehension in Nawaki's voice. It was as if the man was not sure of what he was asking. Yet, the answer Arashi had didn't change since forever. "Yes."

The man sighed and shook his head before speaking. "…I'm the same." He stopped and looked up into the sky. "You know, a lot of people in this village believe you and Konohamaru to be reincarnations of the founders."

That was weird coming from his uncle. Nawaki was perhaps the only one who hadn't mentioned Shodai and Niidaime around him, knowing the boy's sensitivity towards the topic. He guessed there was something he was trying to prepare him for with these almost random words.

"What are you leading to?"

The man turned to look at his nephew and crouched to be at his eye-level. "I trust Orochimaru-sensei, he's saved my life when I was about to be killed. I trust him with my life, but I know he is not a very good person." He went silent for a moment looking into Arashi's eyes trying to find something there. "He did many questionable things, some of them could have him executed. Which is why I want you to trust my judgment, if you can't trust him."

Orochimaru wanted something from him? Why wouldn't the man approach him by himself? As far as Arashi's understanding of Orochimaru went, the man was pretty straightforward, yet to send Nawaki instead of doing it on his own… whatever he wanted must have been pretty big. And more, what Nawaki was saying really bothered him. Trust in him if he couldn't trust in Orochimaru?

"I-" The boy began, but was interrupted.

"Please let me finish. About a dozen years ago, when I was about your age he had tried to bring Mokuton back to Konoha. Out of a hundred test subjects only a single one has survived. He didn't know about that, but due to some things happening recently, that one survivor has resurfaced."

Arashi was silent. He knew what this was about, or at least he thought he knew. Captain Yamato was that one survivor, but Orochimaru wasn't supposed to know about him until much later when they tried to follow up on Sasori's information regarding spies in Oto.

"He looked through his old notes regarding the experiment and found that he may duplicate the success on someone with strong life force like-"

"-Senju or Uzumaki." The boy finished for his uncle.

The implications were clear. Orochimaru wanted him for test subject. The apprehension Nawaki felt before telling him about it was understandable. And Arashi was apprehensive as well. Trusting Orochimaru in this kind of situation wasn't something he'd do, and trusting Nawaki's most likely impaired judgment was even more dangerous. Even if it seemed that Orochimaru wasn't all that bad, Nawaki's words had reconfirmed what Arashi believed must have been truth.

The man continued, breaking Arashi out of his thoughts. "I don't have all the details. It's a need to know basis thing. However, I definitely know that war is coming and we need something to unite our forces. A banner, a symbol, something that represents Konoha more than anything."

That's right, the war was coming. He had almost forgotten about it. What was Nagato thinking sending him so far into past? He was a horrible choice of person for this sort of thing. But a symbol for Konoha? Orochimaru must have been not the one behind it then. While, as it was, snake Sannin still cared much for Konoha, he wouldn't go such lengths to create a 'symbol'. If it was old man Sarutobi, then he would've called him to Hokage tower and spoke directly. Just who the hell had that kind of power and commitment to Konoha to do something like that?

"And I am to be that symbol? This is difficult…" The boy was about to ask Nawaki of the person who might be ordering all of that, but his uncle spoke before he could.

"Yes. I know you hate being compared to founders, but you love Konoha, so I'm sure you understand." The man stood up and continued walking as did Arashi. "All of us sacrificed many things to protect it. Both of my teammates lie dead somewhere in Rice Country. Sensei's parents gave their lives in the First Ninja War, and his own teammate Jiraiya gave his life so you could live."

Whoever it was, they wanted to use him for the good of Konoha. Almost like that 'sacrifice' Nawaki was talking about. He already was a sacrifice, there wouldn't be much of a change if he agreed… except there would be.

If they succeeded, if Orochimaru succeeded, then he'd become just that: a 'reincarnation' of Shodaime Hokage Senju Hashirama. There was a familiar feeling attached to that notion. It was almost like becoming the 'reincarnation' of Kyuubi once again, but this time - diametrically opposite.

He had no problem with that. Not anymore. If he had to be mature about that, then he would. "Fine, I'll do that… whatever you want me to do."

-]|[-

Ame no Kuni

-]|[-

Two of them jumped from one rock to another as the rain poured down on them. Yahiko and Konan were heading to meet a representative of Danzo and discuss further agreements between the Akatsuki and more radical part of Konoha.

"I can't believe we are actually doing that." Yahiko said suddenly as Konan was about to jump off another rock in the canyon leading to the place where Konoha's Sannin fought Hanzo the Salamander during the second war.

Noticing his tone of voice the young woman spoke to her longtime friend. "Calm down, you won't make a good impression worked up like that."

"Well, how can you be so damn calm, Konan?"

"I can, that's all there is to it." As she said that Yahiko jumped to her and took her by her shoulder.

Turning around and facing the orange haired young man she waited to his words which came shortly. "Look, making deals with Konoha is a bad idea"

Konan took Yahiko's hand and removed it from her shoulder before speaking. "We've already discussed that. Hanzo will not tolerate our presence in this country. And if we didn't contact Konoha, then it would've been him who did that."

Hanzo wasn't the same man as he was a dozen or so years ago. His paranoia has gotten better of him and made him a backstabbing bastard. She didn't delude herself the Danzo was much better, but one key difference made Danzo the preferred choice in this situation. Danzo was a rational man who would honor the deal as long as they were useful. Hanzo, on the other hand, would off them the first chance he got due to his fear of them doing the same thing to him.

"You and your damn logic… Since when did you know Hanzo that well? And anyway, Konoha is as likely to fuck us over as Hanzo, I think."

"Since Jiraiya-sensei taught us." She said before turning around and resuming her track across the rocky canyon. "Hanzo is a man who will cling to his power no matter what. He would make a deal with the devil and the devil would be the one to be tricked. But this time it's us tricking the devil, so trust me and I'll do what needs to be done." She cast a look at Yahiko, their eyes meeting and staying there for a moment, before the young man gave in, seeing the resolve in her eyes, and looked ahead.

"Guess we'll just have to. I just hope we aren't selling our souls to that 'devil'." Not hearing any reply from Konan, the orange haired young man added. "Your silence doesn't make me feel any better, you know."

Soon they arrived to the muddy plain where dozens of ninja of both Konoha and Ame have laid down their lives. It looked a little better than all those years back. There weren't those huge amounts of corpses and the mud wasn't that bad since no one has fought there for many years or even passed through there.

"That's the place. We'll have to wait, since we came a couple of hours early." Yahiko said when the two of them came to a halt.

They didn't even get a chance to look around before a voice of a man rung behind them. "No you won't. Greetings, Yahiko-san, Konan-san." Konan was almost surprised by the fact that the man Danzo sent was Orochimaru. Almost was the word, since whatever it may or may not be there was bound to be a reason behind the appearance of someone like one of the Sannin as a representative of Root.

"Orochimaru of Sannin." Yahiko stated, his voice displaying barely a hint of surprise. She knew he would manage to keep his calm when it was crucial. "We didn't think Danzo would send someone that high-ranking."

"Think of it as a show of goodwill." The man said and began walking a circle around them, looking at the two Rain ninja sideways. "We have to show we are serious in this kind of business."

"I see."

"Your companion has been awfully quiet when I fully know she is the brain behind your group." At that Yahiko looked at the young woman by his side and Konan gave a slight nod meaning 'do what you want'.

The young man smiled his eyes almost closing and his hand involuntarily rubbing the back of his head. He gave a small laugh and spoke. "Haha, not quite, she is the common sense."

"Is that so? Never mind, I seem to remember you from somewhere… wait, this place… could it be?" Orochimaru said after taking a good look around and noticing just where they were. "You are those kids Jiraiya taught right at the end of the second war. What irony, I was the one suggesting killing you that time. You have my apologies for that. Fate sure is strange, don't you think?"

"Can we go back to the business at hand?" Konan interjected before Yahiko could even think about doing anything stupid. He never really got over Jiraiya leaving them like that. And she wasn't about to let him have any kind of outbursts at the moment.

"So the bird does sing?" Orochimaru stated rather than asked. He looked Konan in the eye before proceeding. "Yes, of course we can. Konoha cannot support you officially, until both Iwa and Kumo declare war. As for Root, we can offer a number of things: support in anything involving removal of Hanzo's regime, ANBU instructors to train your ninja, and of course a number of supplies like food, weapons and such. In return we expect free passage for any Konoha aligned forces through Ame, establishment of military bases along the border with Earth Country. Anyway, you should read this." He threw a sealed scroll to Konan before continuing. "It's the draft of official agreement, telling you would take too long, and in any case, we will meet again in week's time to further discuss it. I'll let you choose the location."

"The temple. Danzo knows where and when." The young woman said and proceeded with examining the scroll.

As she read the scroll the black haired man spoke to Yahiko with an unnerving smirk on his pale face. "The way I hear it, you have a huge trump card." The man licked his lips. "I'm eager to see it in action."

"We'll see about that." The young man answered gruffly suspecting Orochimaru in trying to tickle their nerves by mentioning Nagato whom they tried to keep a secret to Konoha and almost anyone.

The snake Sannin's smirk turned to smile at seeing Yahiko's reaction and he took another scroll from the pocket of his jounin vest. "There's also this, from me personally, a map of Hanzo's bases. Make sure to use it well."

-]|[-

Two days later

-]|[-

They – he, Orochimaru and Nawaki were inside one of the few Konoha research labs. Konoha's entire Research Division was run by Orochimaru and as such he had full access to any and all of labs and facilities within. Research Division wasn't quite what someone might imagine. It didn't create new weapons or techniques. On contrary, it did anything but that. Originally Research Division was a part of Konoha Medical Corps and mostly studied the corpses of dead, both of foreign and Konoha origins to develop antidotes for poisons, cures for diseases and new training routines.

The department that developed conventional means of killing people belonged to ANBU division and was called Special Technology Research and Development Group. They did more varied kind of research. Conventional and unconventional weapons, techniques and summoned beasts, as well as new tactics and strategies.

Now, many years after the founding of Konoha and Nidaime's reforms, the Research Division remained almost the same, but became a separate entity. There were some changes with Orochimaru becoming its head, as for example attempts to revive the Mokuton bloodline, both documented and undocumented, as well as experiments with chakra boost seals which were a precursor to Cursed Seal.

Most of the labs were underground. Some were in the more dangerous parts of Konoha and Fire Country. The particular lab in which they were was a bit south from Konoha. The place was called training ground #30 and was a complex cave system with some of the most dangerous creatures of Fire Country inhabiting them, which provided additional level of security to already near impenetrable facility.

Spartan would be the best way to describe the room they currently occupied. Gray walls, metal table and three foldable metal chairs. Nothing more except the door, but that went without saying.

The look on the face of Orochimaru was one Naruto was familiar with, Arashi concluded. The predatory eyes and half-smile half-sneer on sannin's face was a thing straight out of past. It certainly didn't make him feel like he was the one using the entire situation for his purposes. In fact, it made him feel quite the opposite.

"Sensei, you're being creepy." Intervened Arashi's uncle after seeing the boy's expression.

Orochimaru blinked and his sneer faded. He then spoke with deliberately slowly. "We will begin tomorrow. Until then you will stay here while the preparations are made." He looked pointedly at the boy and decided to clarify the situation. "I was not sure you would agree to this so almost nothing is ready."

"Did you get mother's consent?" Arashi asked looking first at Orochimaru who didn't react in any way and then at Nawaki who smiled awkwardly.

Nawaki schooled his expression coughed into his fist and said. "I'll have her convinced by tomorrow morning that this is a good idea."

"…I see." The blonde boy was understandably anxious about Tsunade's opinion. If there was one thing he definitely wanted to avoid at that moment, it would be the confrontation between Orochimaru and Tsunade. There was no way to have any good out of that kind of confrontation, besides the obvious reasons to fear that.

"Is that fear I hear in your voice Arashi? Don't worry, let me handle her, there are only two people she couldn't say no to and I'm one of them." Nawaki smirked and leaned back in his chair to the point he was balancing on it.

"Well then, try your best." The boy said before shifting his gaze to his mentor. "What should I expect?"

Orochimaru met Arashi's eyes and for a moment they stared at each other, then the older man spoke. "A lot of pain. You will be bedridden for a couple of weeks at best."

"…and the worst case?"

"You could be crippled and forever unable to use your chakra. And of course the ultimate worst case: you could die." There was something in Snake Sannin's voice that the blonde wasn't sure about. Amusement maybe? "Are you still in?" Yes, that probably was amusement, he was trying to scare the boy, most likely just to have fun. Or something like that anyway. Arashi wasn't certain what Orochimaru's idea of fun was.

"Yes." He answered sure of his luck and ability to avoid death.

"Good, because the chance of something like that happening is close to zero. I have faith in my skills as should you."

"Let's continue." Orochimaru said before pulling out a folder and tossing it to Arashi who caught it without much problem. "I have procured what records we have on techniques of Shodai, so you'll have something to read while you're in hospital. I know you are more of a practical learner, but you still need to know the theory behind the Mokuton manipulation, before you can begin." The man stopped and gave the blonde a stern look waiting for him to look away from the files in folder. "Do you understand?"

"Yes."

Reading through that didn't seem like it would be fun, but he was willing to compromise. And what Orochimaru said was technically very true. He needed to know basic theory before trying to do something. After all, he didn't have much progress with wind chakra before asking Asuma about manipulating it.

"Oh well, I'm going. See you two." Nawaki said while standing up from his chair and rubbing his neck.

"You do that. I'm surprised you stayed that long." Said Arashi and once again turned to the files Orochimaru had given him.

The boy's uncle looked offended for a bit, but composed his face and snorted in amusement before speaking with obvious sarcasm in his voice. "Aren't you cheeky little brat?" He got no reply though, as the boy was fully immersed in his newest reading material.

-]|[-

Konoha hospital.

-]|[-

Two weeks and he hasn't been cleared from hospital yet. The operation went okay and he was able to use Mokuton. The only thing left now was learning to use Mokuton jutsu. Right now, he was trying wood manipulation: growing small plant from the seed in his palm.

It was actually pretty hard, during the first week that is. There was no one who was able to teach him. And whatever Shodai left after his death did not contain any useful information about Mokuton. He was practically forced to create a new theory on nature manipulation based just on observations of people who knew Shodai in his life.

It was the reason why he regretted not asking much about Hashirama from Mito before she died half a year ago. She taught him about sealing and they usually spoke about Uchiha Madara, Kyuubi and other Bijuu.

Still, he welcomed the challenge. It at least entertained him while he was in hospital. And anyway, he was actually succeeding. The first week went by without much changes in his skill. The second week brought some good, though, or maybe a lot, if he wanted to boast. He tried using condensed water from his body to speed up the growth and succeeded. With a price, however. The price being the need to drink at least ten liters of water a day if he wanted to train five hours a day.

During the middle of second week he managed to shape the plant he was growing from seeds that Shizune brought him after he asked. The shape it was in right now was nothing in particular. He tried thinking up some sort of wood armor, and somehow entwined it around his left hand. Still, the area it covered was nowhere enough to be considered armor and the wood itself was nowhere tough enough to protect him even if it covered enough. Yet, the plant was quickly becoming agile and he was almost able to use it as a third hand. There was an occasional fit of clumsiness out of nowhere, but those were rare. And most of all the thing kept him entertained.

Well, today he would get plenty entertainment besides this training. Today was the day Anko promised to visit him. And moreover she promised to bring some normal food, not the junk they fed him in hospital.

…But he really should've just forgot about this. No one would let her into his room with the kind of food he wanted. While she could bring some fruits, what he wanted were not fruits. What he wanted was some ramen. And doctors certainly would not allow any.

His thoughts were interrupted with a laughter coming outside of his room, and soon three kids were sitting inside the room. It turned out Anko brought some tagalongs who wanted to meet the Great Senju Arashi. Just the thought made him sick in his stomach.

"Who are these two?" He asked pointing at the boy and girl by Anko's side.

"No hello?" Anko asked mock offended.

The blonde rolled his eyes before speaking. "Hello. Who are these two?"

Anko huffed and then smiled smugly. "I grabbed them off the street. They looked as though they have entirely too much time and I needed accomplices to bring you the ramen."

"I'm Yuugao." Said the girl rising her hand.

"And I'm Hayate." Said the boy rising his hand.

"Arashi." Said Arashi his hand rising by the power of plant growing around it.

Two newcomers stared at his hand for a moment unimpressed before almost synchronously shifting their eyes to look at much more interesting white hospital wall. Arashi's brow twitched in annoyance. They chose to ignore him! Don't mistake it, he was glad that they weren't his fans as there seemed to be a lot of that kind of people in Konoha at the moment. Since the public was told about Mokuton being brought back to Konoha. But they ignored him! Those two little bastards! That meant war!

While he was perfectly angry inside his face kept calm and schooled expression. "Anyway, back on topic. My ramen, where is it?"

"Yes, yes!" Anko chirped exited, her smile widened, eyes became thin slits and she looked like a cat that just caught a particularly tasty mouse. She looked at the two other kids and barked orders at them. "You two, stand on lookout! Report anyone heading for this room." When both Yuugao and Hayate were standing by the door being absolutely inconspicuous, Anko opened a plastic bowl with steaming ramen inside and proceeded to stick chopsticks with ramen on them right into his face. He didn't question how exactly it was already ready to be ingested, but rather scowled looking at the chopsticks.

The boy was understandably annoyed. "You want to feed me, woman?" She wasn't woman, but he wasn't being literal anyway.

"Quiet, don't let nurses hear, or we'll blow the cover." Arashi's only teammate whispered putting her index finger to her lips. She then smiled like a can once again and spoke. "Say 'ahh' and think what good friend I am."

"Hell no! I'm not getting fed by you, Anko!" Arashi said turning his head sideways, while Anko's chopsticks poked his cheek.

"The time has come! Chose! Either this or no ramen!" If Anko wasn't whispering she actually would have sounded very very evil.

"No ramen?"

"No ramen!"

"Fine, you win." The blonde huffed yielding to the girl holding his precious.

While they argued Arashi didn't dare forget about the two offenders of his somewhat inflated ego. The branch on his hand now extended all the way to the door out of his hospital room and was ready to pounce on its two unsuspecting victims. Anko was too into her little villain act and other two were watching the hospital corridor to notice the branch creeping up on them and splitting into two. It was a perfect setup. He just had to finish his ramen before going through with his revenge plan. It would do no good if the nurses came rushing to the scene of commotion only two find two children dangling from the branches coming out of now slightly overgrown room and the guilty party getting fed ramen without a care in the world.

Admittedly Anko was good with that feeding business as long as she wasn't deliberately fucking it up by poking him into his eye or forehead or cheek or anywhere else, which she stopped doing the moment the blonde agreed to getting fed.

It was to that 'idyllic' scene that Nawaki arrived through the window in the best tradition of now deceased Toad Sage.

And it was the moment the older man opened his mouth to say something that the idyllic scene became one of chaos. The tree branches pounced on the academy students picking them up by their legs and flinging them around until Arashi was satisfied. And it was that moment that the ramen he was being fed was spilled onto him.

To think that one person could cause something like that with as little as entering the scene was alarming.

Nawaki stared at the scene astonished, before composing himself and speaking. "I see you're enjoying your stay in the hospital."

-]|[-

**AN: **Aaaand there you have it. It's mostly okay, I think, but you people are final judges so whatever.

I was going to rant here, but I've cooled off. Still, the problem remains so… You! Yes, you there! Use your fucking head! You'll make it easier for both of us. It's not all that complicated of a story, much easier than school course of physics I think, so it shouldn't take too much of your brainpower to think, right?

On another note, Minato didn't meet Kushina (because in this fic Uzushio is still intact and they didn't need her to be a jinchuuriki) in his childhood, and she didn't teach him Fuuinjutsu so he doesn't know Hiraishin, and that mean he is a mostly perfectly normal jounin that was trained by Jiraiya for a year or two.

P.S. I'll probably kill off some fan favorites (like I did with Jiraiya) in far future, so whatever. Just warning you.

P.P.S. Am I awesome or what? This shit didn't even take half a year to update!


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